Our Team

David Dangoor

Honorary President

Dangoor Education provides opportunities across the learning spectrum with sponsorship of Westminster Academy, Open University Massive Open Online Courses, STEM university scholarships, the Dangoor Centre for Medical Education at the Royal Society of Medicine and the Dangoor Centre for Personalised Medicine at Bar Ilan University. Dangoor Education’s sponsorship of the UK, EU Space Design Competition and Galactic Challenges builds on the fantastic legacy of Sir Naim Dangoor, who supported the Competition for a number of years.

Dr Randall Perry

SSEF & SDC Founder, SSEF Honorary Chair

Dr Perry is the founder of the UKSDC and the Space Science Engineering Foundation (SSEF). He is the Honorary Chair of the SSEF, a registered UK charity. The SSEF supports the UK, MEA and EU Space Design Challenge and the Galactic Challenge. He is a director of the Global Space Design Challenge Ltd that runs a 12 day summer camp at Imperial College London. He is a Senior Research Investigator and a past Royal Society Fellow at Imperial College London. He has a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, has held the US and Canada National Science Foundation Fellowship at Oxford University, and has a NASA certification in Astrobiology. His current focus is on education. In addition, he has published widely in his areas of interest of geology, geochemistry, microbiology and education. He is the author of four adventure novels. Besides scientific talks he enjoys giving talks to a wide variety of public venues for example being invited to give the Public Lecture at the Durham Institute for Advanced Studies on a Definition of Life and as a painter and member of the Chelsea Art Club an invited talk on Science and Art. As a script writer he is a member of the Writers Guild of America West. He is a director and producer with Athene Films, a Canadian film company whose most recent film is Meet Beau Dick. In his spare time he enjoys trekking, scuba diving and flying helicopters and aircraft. He was the president of a company before finishing a Ph.D. later in life and has since visited many of the Earth’s extreme habitats including diving in ‘Alvin’ the deep submersible. Dr Perry was shortlisted for a Sir Arthur Clarke Award in 2013 for his work on USKDC. randallsperryrsperry

Jenny Lyons

Director of Education and Outreach

Chair of the SDC Board

A passionate believer in the benefits that practical science brings to school based learning. Jenny has taught in both the private and public sectors, and additionally worked with a variety of agencies to promote and fund the setting up of Science Clubs. She received a BSc from University of Westminster in biological sciences. She has attended University of Sussex and received an endorsement to teach chemistry after receiving her PGCE from University of Middlesex.
Having worked voluntarily for the UK SDC, she is now excited to have the opportunity to extend their project based learning methods to a wider audience, and is looking forward to the continued success of the Space Science Engineering Foundation (SSEF), the EUSDC, MEASDC and UKSDC and Galactic Challenges.
When not working with SSEF and GC, Jenny enjoys the great outdoors by taking part in Open Water Swimming challenges, as a member of the UK Wild Camping group, and as an assessor and trainer for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

Nicky Fasa

Administrator

Nicky has a BSc in Information Systems and Media Studies. She has years of administrative experience in a variety of capacities. Her most recent role was working in a highly acclaimed Independent School in the north of England as Secretary to the Headmistress. She enjoys working with children and education, and is very excited to get involved with SSEF, their competitions, and what they represent.

Dr Richard Ghail

Trustee Representative
SDC Board Representative
Past SSEF Chair

Richard Ghail is Lecturer in Engineering Geology, based in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, with research interests in The London Basin Forum, Intraplate Processes and the Neotectonics of Great Britain, Plate Tectonics of Buoyant Lithospheres and EnVision.

Adam Braithwaite

Trustee Representative

Adam completed his Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Imperial College in the summer of 2015, and is now a quantitative strategist at Goldman Sachs focused on pricing and modelling of derivative products across the securities business. In his scarce free time, he enjoys flying, scuba diving, and stealing unattended pizza at the competition finals.

Adam was the UKSDC organising chair for 2013/14.

Scott Fisher

Industry Representative

Scott Fisher is an Opto-Mechanical Engineer currently working at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), UK, where he develops optical payloads for Earth Observation Satellites. He previously worked as a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer at Insitu Pacific Ltd, Australia, where he designed payloads and platforms for Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS). Scott graduated with an Honours Degree from The University of Queensland, Australia, and has completed the International Space University’s Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program. He is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). Outside of work, he is an active proponent for Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) education and outreach, and frequently volunteers his time with the IMechE and the UK Space Design Competition.

Trisha Saxena

Alumni Representative

Trisha first took part in the UKSDC in 2014 as a participant, and although her team won she did not have the chance to go to the Kennedy Space Center. This motivated her to try once more in 2015, when her team won again and this time she had the chance to represent the UK at the International competition. Since then she has been involved with the regional and micro competition heats as a judge and CEO. She is currently in her third year at Imperial College London, studying Physics, and hopes to one day work for the UK Space Agency.

Trisha was the UKSDC organising chair for 2016/17.

Ana Vukasovic

Alumni Representative

Ana is a Year 13 student from Montenegro. After she started Sixth Form in the UK she participated in the UKSDC and made her way through to the International Competition held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Having valued her experience she has become very passionate about enabling other students from other countries to enrich themselves with such an amazing opportunity and to share her passion for Space and Engineering. She is currently studying A level Sciences and planning to start her study of Aeronautical Engineering at University next year.

George Manchester

Webmaster

George is a first year electrical and electronic engineering student at the University of Edinburgh. He became first involved with SSEF in a 2016 regional, and then getting through to the national competition via a video entry. Following the 2018 UKSDC nationals, George returned to volunteer for technical training and now helps with organising the competitions for the international side of the SSEF. George helped write the Technical Training Presentations as well as becoming the Webmaster of EUSDC.